gork, the teenage dragon

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DEAR MR. PRESIDENT

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Available from the following booksellers:

 
 

praise for Dear Mr. President

Funny as hell…Mr. Hudson’s style goes from zero to one hundred MPH in the first sentence.”
— Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club
Dear Mr. President is a war book like no other. The stories are a surreal mix of the tragic, the violent and the humorous, like war itself. It’s as if Salvador Dali had rewritten All Quiet on the Western Front.”
USA Today
An acutely inventive collection…. Hudson’s sensitive, lost narrators may be soldiers, but their sentences come from elsewhere entirely—a hilarious world never glimpsed directly but clearly forged from marketing presentations, government bureaucratese and twice-translated slang. Military life, here, is surreal: delusions explode like SCUD missiles. (Hudson is) a writer who confronts the preposterousness of war with some preposterousness all his own.”
The New York Times Book Review
Hudson writes about a pain so vast and shattering that the only way it can safely surveyed is with night goggles and hallucinatory humor. He has a wonderful way of amplifying the take-it-for-granted madness of war . . . Dear Mr. President documents the damage that war inflicts on America. This depiction of madness, this blur of comedy and tragedy is done with deft humor and convincing passion.”
— The San Diego Union Tribune
A major literary feat. Like the war at its center, Dear Mr. President is hallucinatory, fast, and wantonly disturbing, but also a victory.”
Men’s Journal
These twisted tales about soldiers’ lives manage to be at once hilarious and sobering.”
GQ
Gabe Hudson is not your average-looking novelist. Standing 6ft 4in tall, he has the steely eyes of a coyote and a crew cut as severe as the crops they dish out in Marine Corps. He says he drew from Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian the conviction that a young man had to see the world and find adventure. His experiences in the corps, and his encounters with fellow recruits from all racial and social backgrounds, have provided him with rich literary fodder ever since. His first book, Dear Mr. President, is a collection of short stories exploring the strains put on the troops during and after the first Gulf war. His characters suffer from post-traumatic stress-like symptoms and the ravages of Gulf war syndrome. The stories contain strong characters and vivid narratives, layered with surreal imagery. The writing ripples with violence, credibly depicted with the benefit of Hudson’s own days as a scrapping marine.”
The Guardian

Profiles and Interviews

 

Interview with Gabe

Abercrombie and Fitch Catalog


Schtuff

 
 

Joaquin Phoenix

Black Book Magazine

 
 

Cover images for foreign editions of Dear Mr. President


More Praise

 
In Hudson’s weird, wonderful world…. the Persian Gulf War, that outwardly pristine conflict, comes at last into its literary own.”
The Washington Post Book World
Wickedly funny and extremely touching work. Cannot—and should not—be ignored.”
San Francisco Chronicle
Dear Mr. President is a phalanx of ingeniously twisted tales…. Equal parts tragedy and travesty, it manages to be both febrile and funny, sad and sardonic…. Hudson stands on the shoulders of Joseph Heller and Kurt Vonnegut.”
The Boston Phoenix
Devour this book… You could probably mine the thesaurus all day in a vain attempt to describe Gabe Hudson’s first book, Dear Mr. President…. Unique? Definitely, though that doesn’t cover it. Funny, almost always, in a wonderfully twisted way, but this isn’t humor writing. Profound? Sort of, like a Dave Barry version of Apocalypse Now script. He’s the kind of writer who will have you giggling profusely and contemplatively staring at the wall—all in the same paragraph.”
Austin American-Statesman
Hudson is a major new voice in fiction…. Dear Mr. President is a splendid combination of humor and horror, absurdity and abomination, delight and disdain. We’d be a better nation if we listened to Hudson’s….gutsy and intelligent take on the America we don’t want to admit we’ve become.”
Houston Chronicle
Ought to be required reading for Congress . . . for it captures with harrowing freshness the madness and stupidity of war. Not unlike the work of another war satirist, Joseph Heller, his heroes survive, if they survive, by retreat into the imagination . . . a study in the psychological complexities of the life of a soldier.”
St. Petersburg Times
Surreal, disturbingly funny. . . . Beneath the absurd scenarios is real compassion.”
Details
Hudson displays a brilliantly macabre sense of humor, a fine ear for military and beauracratic clichés, and abundant compassion for his quirky, bruised characters.”
Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“An ex-rifleman in the Marine reserves, Mr. Hudson writes with great feeling and skill about the Gulf War.”
United Press International
Seductively hallucinatory, subversively comic.”
The Village Voice
Powerful and entertaining…. Hudson takes us on a hilariously dark tour of the Gulf War experience.”
The Portland Oregonian
One of the best comic writers of his generation. In the tradition of dark war narratives such as Slaughter-House Five, all of the stories blend humor with the horrors of war.”
Contra Costa Times
Hudson . . . writes like a grounded, focused combination of Chuck Palahniuk and Kurt Vonnegut. He’s less choppy than either, but occupies a similarly queasy quasi-reality that can be simultaneously entertaining and baffling. His ambiguous stories read as metaphors or case histories, as widely symbolic or unsettlingly literal. That shifting ambiguity, which Hudson’s characters and readers experience in equal measure, makes these stories as compelling as they are disturbing.”
The Onion
Surreal and funny as hell, funny and hellish in the absurdist tradition of Catch 22 and Dr. Strangelove. Hudson has an amazing and vivid imagination…It’s like listening to the rantings of someone with a high fever: fascinating and scary.”
The Plain Dealer
One of the year’s most provocative story collections.”
Interview
Hudson tackles the aftermath of the Persian Gulf War. Hudson does for it what Tim O’Brien did for Vietnam—he’s upped the ante. Big time.”
Abercrombie and Fitch
The stories are powerful indictments of the atrocities committed by both sides.”
St. Louis Post Dispatch
Phantasmagorical events befall the soldiers in Dear Mr. President…a floridly violent and hallucinatory collection.”
Salon
The stories offer the reader a sometimes absurdist, and almost always hallucinatory vision of war’s horrors and its aftermath. Accordingly they are required reading.”
The Richmond Times Dispatch

Praise for GORK, THE TEENAGE DRAGON

 
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The Verge ‘Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Books to Read This Month’
An Amazon Summer Beach Reads Pick
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'Gork, the Teenage Dragon' may be headed to TV
‘Gork, The Teenage Dragon’ Novel Being Developed For TV By The Gotham Group
A Google Play Summer Reading Pick
A TODAY Show Summer Pick
A Barnes & Noble Best New Fiction of the Month Pick
“Hilarious . . . Gork is less Game of Thrones and more The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy with fire-breathing characters and a John Hughes-esque plot.”
Rolling Stone
Guaranteed to entertain . . . an omnivorous parodic vibe worthy of Futurama.
— Paul Di Filippo, The Barnes & Noble Review
Sweet-natured Gork faces deadly threats and learns lessons about love.”
San Francisco Chronicle
Madcap invention and strange genius of Alice in Wonderland.”
The Paris Review Daily
Charming and wildly imaginative.”
— Isaac Fitzgerald, BuzzFeed
A dragon version of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.”
New York Journal of Books
Sure to win the hearts of sci-fi readers and fans of offbeat comedies.”
Shelf Awareness
A hilarious and heartfelt fantasy. . . Harry Potter meets Sixteen Candles.”
Google Play Summer Reading
A wondrously insane mashup...Not to be missed!”
— Barnes & Noble, Best New Fiction of the Month
The hyperkinetic teen-dragon comedy-romance you never knew you wanted.”
Kirkus Reviews
Cleverly plotted and executed.”
Publishers Weekly
Smart, subversive, funny and fun.​”
The ​Maine Edge​
Like a Generation Z teen was set loose on the works of Terry Pratchett.”
— Barnes & Noble, Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog
Gork is a fantastical, outrageous, coming-of-age love story.”
Unbound Worlds, Summer’s Best Sci-Fi & Fantasy Pick
This story is amazingly clever and just downright funny.”
— Melissa Lojo, Master Bookseller, Book People Book Store
Hilarious, satisfyingly fun. . .
[as] if John Hughes wrote a Game of Thrones dragon comedy..”
The Chicago Review of Books
My one & only crush.”
— Melissa L.-O.​, Harvard Book Store
Like nothing you’ve ever read before—a quirky, wildly fun ride.”
— Jarry Lee, BuzzFeed
Genre-bending, age-defying appeal.”
Library Journal
Like a mad scramble to find the right date for prom—but with dragons.”
Booklist
Gork is the funny, wonderfully-written coming of age story about a dragon from another planet that is equal parts smart, silly, and sincere!”
— Nikki, Newtonville Books Bookstore
An instant dragon tale classic.”
Brief Take
 

What Other Writers Are Saying About Gork

Combines so many things I count on in fiction I love—great expansive humor, a big-hearted optimism about all that’s possible in the world and in fiction, a very clear moral purpose and a sense of social responsibility—plus a willingness to experiment with the form of writing, to push the art of writing further, and with passion.”
— Dave Eggers, author of The Circle
A one-of-a-kind coming-of-age story for the big-hearted.”
— Tracy K. Smith, Pulitzer Prize-winning Author of Life on Mars and Ordinary Light
Outrageous storytelling and soulful humor...
Gabe Hudson may well be the funniest writer at work today.”
— Gary Shteyngart, author of Super Sad True Love Story
Gork’s got it going on. This wonderful, big-hearted, crazy novel
is a testament to Gabe Hudson’s ingenious imagination.”
— Elizabeth McKenzie, author of The Portable Veblen
If you are in need of a charming, funny, just very good read right now, may I suggest Gork, the Teenage Dragon by Gabe Hudson?
— Erika Swyler, author of The Book of Speculation
Unforgettable....Gork, the Teenage Dragon is a cyborg:
a fusion of whiz bang sci-fi with earthy, bawdy, heartfelt fantasy.
— Chandler Klang Smith, author of The Sky Is Yours
Such madcap, heartfelt delight and joy.”
— Alice Sola Kim, 2016 Whiting Award Winner
This book is as sly and smart as it is hilarious.”
— Ben Marcus, author of Leaving the Sea
Gork the Teenage Dragon is on fire!”
— Paul La Farge, author of The Night Ocean
An epic love story.”
— Akhil Sharma, author of Family Life

Videos

Gabe talked with Signature Views about the importance of learning to write jokes, and how he experienced culture shock when getting his MFA.

 

 Watch more videos

 
 

Profiles and Interviews

 
 
 
 
 

Gabe Hudson Talks Adolescence and Gork, The Teenage Dragon

—by Matt Staggs at Comic-Con 2017, Unbound Worlds

 
 

What's Gabe Hudson reading?

—by Piper Castillo, Tampa Bay Times

 

Interview with Gabe Hudson
 

—by Christy Jane at Comic-Con 2017, Tales of a Ravenous Reader

 
 
 
 

Events

(More tour dates forthcoming)

To schedule an event, please contact Jordan Rodman at jrodman@penguinrandomhouse.com.

 

 

July 11, 2017, 7:00 pm

Vroman's Bookstore
695 E. Colorado Blvd.
Pasadena, CA 91101-2116
[map]

July 13, 2017, 7:30 pm

Green Apple Books on the Park
1231 9th Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94122-2306
[map]

July 17, 2017, 7:30 pm

Powell's Books on Hawthorne
3723 SE Hawthorne Blvd.
Portland, OR 97214
[map]

July 18, 2017, 7:30 pm

Books Are Magic
In conversation with Daryl Gregory, author of SpoonBenders and BuzzFeed Books Editor Isaac Fitzgerald
225 Smith St.
Brooklyn, NY 11231
[map]

July 19, 2017, 7:00 pm

Harvard Bookstore
1256 Massachussetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02138-3820
[map]

July 21-22, 2017, 2:00 pm

Comic-Con
Panel: It’s a Funny Story: Writing Humor

Brendan Reichs (NEMISIS) in conversation with:
Brandon Snider (What Would Captain Picard Do?)
Fred Van Lente (Ten Dead Comedians)
Liz Climo (You Don’t Want a Unicorn)
Gini Koch (The Alien Series)
Gabe Hudson (Gork, the Teenage Dragon)

Horton Grand Theater
San Diego Convention Center
111 W. Harbor Dr.
San Diego, CA 92101
[map]

July 25, 2017, 7:00 pm

Book People
603 N. Lamar Blvd.
Austin, TX 78703-5413
[map]

July 26, 2017, 7:00 pm

Brazos Bookstore
2421 Bissonnet St.
Houston, TX 77005-1451
[map]

July 27, 2017, 7:00 pm

Community Bookstore
In conversation with BuzzFeed Books Editor Isaac Fitzgerald
143 Seventh Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11215
[map]

July 30, 2017, 1:00 pm

Oxford Exchange
In conversation with Matthew Kiam, author of Who is Rich?
420 W Kennedy Blvd.
Tampa, FL 33602
[map]

August 11, 2017, 7:00 pm

Elliot Bay Book Company
1521 10th Ave.
Seattle, WA 98122-3806
[map]

August 12, 2017, 7:30 pm

Writers with Drinks
Charlie Jane Anders (All the Birds in the Sky) in conversation with:
Anna Pulley (Lesbian Sex Haiku Book)
Inkoo Kang (TV critic for MTV News)
Nick Farmer (linguist and creator of Belter language for Syfy’s The Expanse)
Toni D. Newman (I Rise:the Transformation of Toni Newman)
Gabe Hudson (Gork, the Teenage Dragon)

3225 22nd Street
San Francisco, CA 94117
[map]

September 13, 2017, 7:00 pm

Columbia University
Fiction Reading hosted by Ben Marcus
Dodge Hall
2960 Broadway
New York, NY 10027
[map]

October 5-8, 2017

New York Comic-Con
Penguin Random House booth signing
Javits Convention Center
New York, NY 10001
[map]

October 19, 2017, 7:30 pm

Pete's Candy Store
Pete’s Reading Series
709 Lorimer Street
Brooklyn, NY 11211
[map]

February 15, 2018, 7:00 pm

Hunter College
Glass Cafe, West Building
68th Street and Lexington Avenue
New York, NY 10065
[map]

 

Contact

 

PUBLISHER

For press stuff, please contact Jennifer Marshall at Knopf/Vintage: jmarshall@penguinrandomhouse.com


LITERARY AGENT

For general lit stuff, please contact Susan Golomb at Writers House: sgolomb@writershouse.com


FILM AGENT

For TV/Film stuff, please contact Michelle Weiner at CAA: michelle.weiner@caa.com


NEWS

To sign up for news about Gabe Hudson, visit penguinrandomhouse.com


EMAIL

Contact Gabe Hudson at gabeghudson@gmail.com